Tag: Blog admin

I will talk about something I’ve had on my heart to write about, but I didn’t really know what to say. You see, Victor and I are firm believers, but we are also cautious to write much about our views in a public forum because topics like religion and politics are very polarising (and quite emotionally aggressive) today. We don’t want to end up with people trolling us or making our lives difficult, but at the same time, we do want people to know where we are in Christ. We are reformed Presbyterians. We believe that God, through His son, Jesus, saved us from our sins through grace alone. By this, we mean we cannot do anything to “win” or earn our salvation. It’s not up to us to try to get His love because it’s a free offering to anyone who believes and puts his trust in Jesus (John 3:16).

In New Zealand, there are a lot of different people from different backgrounds. Religion and belief in God are not central to the New Zealand way of life. Practising Christians aren’t exactly rare, but they are not as common as they used to be and the world as a whole is becoming more hostile to anyone who does not share the same beliefs as the status quo. We want this site to be a page where anyone can come to gather information without feeling judged, but also a page where many might see through our actions what a real honest family does to represent God on the Earth. We are by no means a perfect family, and we will undoubtedly make a lot of mistakes, but God offers forgiveness and helps us to grow. That growth is what we want you to see.

This week we have learned that God is asking us to wait on Him for the right time to sell our current house and purchase the next. He’s shown us that right now the market isn’t strong enough to list our home. There are properties that we could buy, but we believe that God is telling us a better option (or perhaps even one of the same options) awaits us in the future. So for right now, we will stay where we are and wait until springtime to sell. We will continue to blog on this page, talk about our progress with our home, bring you stories about our newest companion, and have many more fun adventures as time goes on. Please stay in touch and share our adventure with your friends!

Welcome to Kiwi Homesteading! We hope that you will have fun and learn lots as you join us on our exciting new adventure.

For reasons of safety and security, we will use pseudonyms on this blog. We respectfully ask that you refrain from publicly referring to us by our real names or attempting to identify us, either in comments on our blog or elsewhere.

Victor, the husband and father, is a software developer who grew up in semi-rural New Zealand. After time spent overseas and in the big city, he’s keen to return to the country for fresher air, a slower pace of life, and a healthy environment for us and our children. He believes in greater self-sufficiency, strong community relationships, and less dependence on the vast, impersonal networks that define much of modern city life.

Grace, the wife and mother, is a full time parent to our young children. She grew up in semi-rural Midwest United States. She spent most of her teenage and early adult years developing a professional traditional art practice and studying under a Master of Arts. She now focuses on raising our three young girls, with a secondary focus on growing the family chickens, veggies, and other homesteading activities. In addition to those things, Grace still finds time to practice her art.

The first of our three young girls is Stargazer. Stargazer is currently three and a half years old, going on 10. She loves to ask lots of questions! When she gets in trouble (which is very frequent), she often asks, “What happened?” or, “Why?”. She’s a lovely little girl with plenty of aspirations regarding horses and puppies. We hope these things keep her out of trouble!

The second of our girls is Honeybee. Honeybee is one and a half years old. She’s as sweet as can be but is going through some hard times on account of some nerve problems which unfortunately make it difficult for her to be as active as she would like to be. She’s doing her best to learn to talk, though, and still tries some things like bouncing on trampolines that are physically demanding for a toddler! Honeybee has overcome so many obstacles in her short life thus far and we believe that a rural life will help improve her health and give her relief from her troubles.

The third of our girls is Ducky. Ducky (sometimes affectionately called “Rubber Duck” or “Little Duck”) is currently a baby. She’s growing very fast and has started having interest in her hands and toys. She can’t sit up or crawl yet, but she loves to watch people and she has a strong affection for rubber ducks and ducks of all sorts. Grace thinks this love is because she was introduced to a toy that Stargazer put on her after her first bath. She particularly likes to watch the ducks at the park and watch the leaves on the trees at the pond too. She’s a happy baby but due to some family genetics is allergic to milk and soy protein and unable to digest breast milk, so she’s on a specialty paediatric formula diet.